The DWP is now going to refuse disabled people’s diagnoses if they got them privately

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare reform plans make it even harder for disabled people to access support. A clause in the Universal Credit (UC) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) bill sets out that in order to meet the criteria for “severe conditions” (and the requisite support) claimants must have:

been diagnosed by an appropriately qualified health care professional in the course of the provision of NHS services.

This means that people who have long-term and severe conditions must provide proof of diagnosis only by NHS services – excluding anyone who’s had to get a private diagnosis. Of course, many people with mental health diagnoses have had to turn to private health services because of the dire state of NHS mental health provisions. And, that’s to say nothing of diagnoses for areas in which the NHS is woefully under-equipped, including the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

However, before the bill has actually become law, one NHS board is already set to prove why this can only be a disaster.

DWP gaps

The regional NHS board for Coventry and Warwickshire has announced that it has temporarily stopped accepting ADHD referrals for adults over 25. The board claimed that this decision was taken in order to reduce waiting lists for children. And, as the Guardian reports, this debacle is further compounded by the fact that:

Several trusts, including Herefordshire and Worcestershire and some in London, have previously paused ADHD referrals but have accredited other providers for GPs to send referrals to under “right to choose” legislation.

Currently, adults over 25 seeking ADHD referrals in Coventry and Warwickshire they’d have no choice but to turn to private health services. But, if such a decision remains in place then it could mean that once the welfare reforms are made law, those same people wouldn’t be able to apply for support via UC or PIP.

And, one charity is already preparing a legal challenge under right-to-choose legislation. Legally, there must be healthcare options for all people via the NHS. However, as this latest decision leaves adults living under that particular NHS board with no options, ADHD UK is fighting back. Their chief executive Henry Shelford said:

It’s ridiculous. We know one in 10 men and boys and one in four women and girls with ADHD will at some point try to take their own life, so we know there’s a danger.

Shelford showed just how much the decision will impact local people:

We also know that ADHD medication can have a significant positive effect and you can’t get it unless you have a diagnosis. It’s part of the discrimination and a lack of taking ADHD seriously that we face every day.

Warnings

Now, if only the DWP had been warned that such problems were coming their way based on their reforms. Inevitably, several charities that work on disability issues did in fact warn that the proposed reforms would damage disabled people. James Taylor, head of strategy at Scope, said:

The plan is to only include NHS diagnoses, which excludes people who were privately diagnosed, and that includes many with neurodivergent conditions. It feels like it’s been designed to cut support, rather than what’s best for disabled people, and will only move more disabled people into poverty.

Meanwhile, as usual, disability activists have been pointing out the very same problems:

A neat way to filter out all your autistic and adhd claimants who had to go private due to lack of resourcing in the NHS. This will also massively affect people with complex health conditions – many of my friends with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome had to go private for diagnosis & care. https://t.co/tOZ89zxIWU

— hux | lizzie huxley-jones 🍟📚 (they/them) (@littlehux) June 19, 2025

Clinical psychologist and activist Dr. Jay Watts has already explained how the DWP reforms target people with mental health conditions:

Kendall says reform of PIP assessments starts today.
Labour has repeatedly briefed that mental illness and neurodivergence are “overdiagnosed.”
PIP already discriminates against mental illness and other fluctuating conditions.
Mental health organisations need to be on this— now.

— Dr Jay Watts (@Shrink_at_Large) May 13, 2025

DWP: targeting disabled people

It’s already difficult enough for people with mental health diagnoses to get any support via UC or DWP PIP. Claims must be evidenced and discussed at length with, at best, unsympathetic, DWP assessors. With these reforms, people who have the most severe conditions will only be able to provide diagnoses from NHS services. The government have been warned time and time again that this will only stigmatise and target the people who most need support.

But, even for this wretched government, it’s quite an achievement to have such a disaster brewing in Coventry and Warwickshire. These reforms are clearly intended to crack down on the imagined problem of people with mental health issues requiring support. They could have updated legislation in keeping with the latest medical research on how ADHD is actually under-diagnosed and under-treated. Instead, in a move of staggering cruelty they’re policing the support of those with severe and long-term conditions.

Featured image via the Canary